The Hindu Business Line : Jindal Stainless net up at Rs 47.5 cr

JINDAL Stainless Ltd on Wednesday reported a net profit of Rs 47.50 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2003, as against the previous corresponding Rs 31.25 crore registered as Jindal Strips, prior to the company's restructuring. Total income was Rs 588.52 crore (Rs 466.13 crore).

For the nine-month period ending December 31, 2003, the company earned a net profit of Rs 132.78 crore (Rs 64.32 crore) on a total income of Rs 1,649.78 crore (Rs 1,337.80 crore).

Gross domestic sales for the December quarter were Rs 390.36 crore (Rs 324.10 crore), exports Rs 245.92 crore (Rs 183.98 crore) and net sales amounted to Rs 587.35 crore (Rs 463.44 crore).

Third quarter interest amounted to Rs 92 lakh (Rs 14.97 crore) while depreciation was Rs 30.83 crore (Rs 23.82 crore).

The higher depreciation was ascribed to capital expenditure incurred on upgradation and debottlenecking of existing production facilities in Hisar.

"Latin Investment Bank Bahamas Ltd (LAIB), an affiliate of Citigroup Global Investments, has acquired 460 FCCBs of the company and has given notice for its conversion into equity shares. Consequently, the company has allotted 9,99,752 equity shares of Rs 10 each to LAIB in January 2004. Hence the paid-up equity share capital will increase to Rs 19.98 crore," the company official statement said.

According to it, the third quarter was challenging for the stainless steel industry due to all round increase in raw material prices especially that of nickel, which reached a high $16,590 per tonne in December as compared to $7,865 per tonne at the beginning of the financial year.

The recent reduction in customs duty on nickel and coal should therefore help.

"In the current quarter, stainless steel production was 109,985 mt as compared to 110,792 mt in the corresponding previous period. The production was lower due to planned partial shutdown of the plant given ongoing upgradation and debottlenecking plan," the statement said.